Redundancies planned by the Association of Paradors

The Association of Paradors has announced the start of ERE (Employment Regulation) negotiations which are expected to result in 644 redundancies nationwide, the amendment of 856 contracts and the closure or conversion of several facilities.

Deadline for regional bailout requests

Midnight Tuesday is the deadline for the autonomous regions in Spain to apply for a bailout from the €18 billion Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) and so far, nine regions have made applications.

Pensions will not be raised to cover inflation

The government has reneged on its campaign pledge to compensate pensioners for a loss of spending power due to inflation, opting instead to concentrate on meeting the deficit-reduction target for this year.

Resale property prices continue to decline

The average resale price of houses in October 2012 stood at €1,926 per square metre, down 0.9% on September, down 9.9% on October 2011 and with a cumulative decrease of 65% since April 2007. The figures form part of a report produced by IESE and Fotocasa.

European Commission critical of use of EU funds

The European Commission believes that Spain should be using European funds to invest in job incentives and the modernisation of small and medium-sized businesses rather than continually spending the money on building roads and carrying out endless infrastructure projects.

Buy a house, get a residencia free

The Secretary of State for Commerce, Jaime García-Legaz, has announced that the government is considering amending the Immigration Law to grant residency to people who buy houses valued at €160,000 or more in Spain , the move specifically targeted at the Chinese and Russian markets.

Spending and investment continue to decline

Consumer spending and investment continues to decline, the Spanish economy shrinking by 0.7% in the first quarter, 1.7% in the second quarter and by 0.3% in the third quarter based upon the interannual rate, with GDP falling to its current rate of 1.6%.

Families earning less than €19,000 per year will not be evicted

Three days of negotiations between the Government and the Socialist Party on the subject of evictions have failed to culminate in an agreement and as a result, the Government will today approve a Royal Decree containing measures deemed most important in preventing more tragic incidents.